Purchase and Installation of a Compactor Storage System in the Entomology Research Museum, University of California, Riverside

加州大学昆虫学研究博物馆(ERM)拥有约300万份标本，是北美最大的20个昆虫收藏之一，也是严格基于大学的10个最大收藏之一。鉴于昆虫代表了我们生物多样性的大部分，而且这种多样性在西南部最高，ERM是我们国家最重要的生物资源库之一。不幸的是，ERM的运作空间严重不足，阻碍了对收集的适当管理，并抑制了增长，影响了其存放实地研究和生物防治工作的参考材料和凭单的能力。对更多空间的需求迫在眉睫，但在可预见的未来，没有或将没有这样的空间。唯一可行的解决方案是提高现有空间的存储容量。此外，目前的储藏柜也不够用；很少有储藏柜提供气密密封来阻止破坏性的博物馆害虫。通过根据要求升级到具有新的高质量橱柜的节省空间的压路机存储系统，ERM可以为200多万个额外的标本增加存储空间，同时改善对标本的获取、收集工作空间、物理组织、地震安全和病虫害防治。ERM继续维护和获取材料，对于鉴定物种、支持研究、应用科学和培训昆虫学新学生至关重要。UCR昆虫学系包括许多教职员工和学生，他们在ERM工作并将标本存放在ERM中，而且ERM参与了一个全球贷款计划，因此它的标本在世界各地得到了利用。ERM的寄生蜂收藏是世界上种类最多、增长最快的寄生蜂收藏之一，与大多数类似收藏不同，它的500,000多个标本中的大多数都有宿主记录，使其成为世界上关于农业害虫有益寄生蜂的最有价值的信息来源之一。这种生防剂(和害虫)的参考材料对农业的价值怎么估计都不为过，因为害虫控制的基础是准确识别所涉及的各种生物的能力，而且与加州农业的密切联系使ERM对该州影响深远的生物防治研究具有公认的重要地位。ERM的蜜蜂收藏也被广泛认为是世界上最重要的蜜蜂之一，有20多万个标本，代表了美国本土3000种蜜蜂中的一半以上，其中几种是对农业重要的传粉者。ERM的收藏品也越来越多地被用于与环境有关的决策(例如，多物种保护计划)，包括培训环境顾问，以及在加州和其他地方充当生物多样性调查的储存库和识别中心。ERM本身在整个南加州进行着广泛的持续收集工作，包括对几个受保护和限制区域的调查，不仅对评估现在的多样性至关重要，而且对过去也是如此，因为许多标本都有40-100年的历史，代表着在上个世纪已经灭绝、衰落或发生重大变化的物种或种群；加州昆虫的不可替代的数据来源，以及美国一些最独特和/或受威胁的栖息地。ERM还为从事城市病虫害防治、公共卫生和环境生物学工作的人员以及普通公众提供了宝贵的资源。它在UCR的教育推广计划中扮演着重要的角色，并响应学校和个人的请求。它收集和传播信息，包括通过互联网，地方和国家媒体利用机构风险管理工作人员的专门知识。

With some 3 million specimens, UCR's Entomology Research Museum (ERM) is one of the 20 largest insect collections in North America, and one of the 10 largest strictly University-based collections. Given that insects represent the bulk of our biodiversity, and this diversity is highest in the southwest, the ERM is one of our nation's most important biological resource repositories. The ERM is, unfortunately, operating at a significant space deficit, preventing proper curation of the collection and inhibiting growth, affecting its ability to house reference material and vouchers for field research and biocontrol work. The need for additional space is immediate and compelling, but no such space is or will be available for the foreseeable future. The only viable solution is to improve the storage capacity of the existing space. Also, the present storage cabinets are inadequate; few offer an air-tight seal to deter destructive museum pests. By upgrading to a space-efficient compactor storage system with new high-quality cabinets, as requested, the ERM can add storage space for over 2 million additional specimens and simultaneously improve access to specimens, collection workspace, physical organization, earthquake safety, and pest control. The continued maintenance and acquisition of material by the ERM is vital to the identification of species in support of research, applied science, and for the training of new students of Entomology. The UCR Entomology department includes numerous faculty, staff, and students that work with and deposit specimens in the ERM, and the ERM participates in a global loan program, so its specimens are utilized all over the world. The ERM's parasitic wasp collection is one of the world's most diverse and fastest growing, and unlike most similar collections, the majority of its over 500,000 specimens have host records, making it one of the world's most valuable sources of information about beneficial parasitoids of agricultural pests. The value of this reference material of biocontrol agents (and pests) to agriculture cannot be overestimated, since the foundation of pest control is the ability to accurately identify the various organisms involved, and close ties to California's agriculture place the ERM in a recognized position of importance for the state's far-reaching biocontrol research. The ERM's bee collection is likewise widely recognized as one of the world's most important, with over 200,000 specimens representing over half of the 3,000 bee species native to the US, several of these being pollinators important to agriculture. The ERM's collections are also increasingly being used in making decisions relating to the environment (e.g., Multispecies Conservation Plans), including training of environmental consultants, plus acting as a repository and identification center for biodiversity surveys in California and elsewhere. The ERM itself has extensive ongoing collecting efforts throughout southern California, including surveys of several protected and restricted areas, and is not only crucial in assessing the present diversity, but the past, as well, as many specimens are 40-100 years old, representing species or populations that are extinct, in decline, or have changed substantially over the last century; a source of irreplaceable data on Californian insects, and some of the nation's most unique and/or threatened habitats. The ERM further serves as a valuable resource for people working with urban pest control, public health, and environmental biology, as well as for the general public. It plays an important role in UCR's educational outreach programs, and responds to requests by schools and individuals. It gathers and disseminates information, including through the Internet, and local and national media draw on the expertise of the ERM staff.